Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to launch EASE 4.0: Here's all you need to know

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is on a two-day visit to Mumbai, where she held important meetings with senior officers of the IT Department and officers of GST and Customs. 

On 25 August 2021, FM Sitharaman will launch EASE 4.0, a common reform agenda for Public Sector Banks (PSBs). This year PSBs will focus on introducing and promoting new analytics-based offers to existing retail customers like pre-approved car loans, EMI offers on e-commerce purchases and also for existing MSME customers.

What is Enhanced Access and Service Excellence?

First launched in January 2018 jointly by the government and PSBs, Enhanced Access and Service Excellence aim at institutionalizing clean and smart banking. It was commissioned through Indian Banks’ Association and authored by the Boston Consulting Group.

EASE is based on the recommendations made at the PSB Manthan held in November 2017. The event was attended by the senior management of PSBs and representatives from the government. The overarching framework of the Agenda was responsive and responsible PSBs. 

Editions of EASE:

EASE 1.0: The report manifested notable improvement in PSB performance in the resolution of Non Performing Assets (NPAs) transparently.

EASE 2.0: Build on the foundations of EASE 1.0, it introduced new action points and focussed on six themes of customer responsiveness-- responsible banking, credit offtake, PSBs as Udyami Mitra, deepening financial inclusion and digitalisation, and developing personnel for brand PSB.

EASE 3.0: Launched in February 2020, it focussed on enhancing the ease of banking in all customer experiences, using technology, alternate data and analytics. 

Under the reform agenda, banks will partner with third parties and work towards automating the processing and sanction of agricultural loans based on a field visit, borrower interaction, and risk assessment in states with digitised land records. For the co-lending model with non-banking finance companies, banks will have 80% exposure, while NBFCs will facilitate customer service and grievance redressal.

Read: What is Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 Scheme launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman?

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